Friday, 3 May 2013

zen habits: Find the Zen of Work

One of the most common problems I hear from readers is the difficulty in finding calm and peace in the middle of a work day.

Work for many people is stressful, full of too many things to do, too many meetings and emails and incoming information and interruptions and irritations and distractions and decisions and confusion.

Putting “Zen” into the workplace — some calm, some mindfulness, some letting go of that which stresses you out — is not a simple thing for most people.

To help those who’d like to find a more peaceful way of working, I’ve teamed up with San Francisco Zen Center to create the Zen of Work online course.

Zen priest Robert Thomas (former president of SFZC) and I will be co-teaching the class, which lasts for four weeks and starts this Sunday (May 5, 2013). Space is limited so please sign up by Saturday (May 4) if you’d like to join us.

What will the class consist of? Four weekly modules, each with:

Videos with Robert and me

Articles and podcasts with other great Zen teachers

A weekly live video webinar (with me and Zen teachers Robert Thomas, Susan O’Connell and Marc Lesser on different weeks)

A Q&A where you can submit questions to be answered

A weekly mindfulness practice

A forum to discuss the material with other course members

This will take a daily commitment, so if you’d like to do it, please set aside at least 20-30 minutes a day to view/read course materials, do the practice, and interact with the teachers and other members (through the forum, Q&A, and webinars).